3 things to watch for against L.A. Clippers

The Milwaukee Bucks move into the back half of their west coast trip as they visit the L.A. Clippers at Staples Center on Saturday.

As the Milwaukee Bucks arrive at Staples Center for a matinee game on Saturday afternoon, they’ll have plenty of reason to be more wary of the 6-5 L.A. Clippers than their record necessarily commands.

Last season, the only two meetings between the teams came in a six-day span in March, where the Clippers got the best of the Bucks by a seven-point margin on both occasions.

That memory likely won’t have escaped the minds of many of Milwaukee’s players, but on the whole this is a very different Bucks team, as has been demonstrated by their own 9-2 start to the season.

The Clippers have a collection of savvy, capable, and reliable players, yet they lack the superstar abilities of a Giannis Antetokounmpo, and arguably even the star abilities of a Khris Middleton.

All eyes are fixed on free agency as an avenue to address that void from an L.A. perspective, although it’s worth noting that the thrilling early season play of rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may give the Clippers a potential top talent to develop from within too.

Whether the Clippers have enough to compete with the Bucks, if Milwaukee plays to their best, remains to be seen.

With all of that in mind, let’s take a look at three of the elements worth your attention heading into Saturday’s game at Staples Center.